/sci/ - Science & Math

, there has been a recent development which is potentially very interesting. The modified gravity hypothesis did not only predict a naturally-flat universe, but it also predicted a modification to the structure of black holes. The hypothesis eliminated the troublesome singularities which are supposed to lie at the heart of black holes. Instead, the hypothesis predicted that the mass of a black hole would be concentrated at its event horizon. In August 2016, a team led by Vitor Cardoso of the Superior Technical Institute in Lisbon suggested that the signature of a thickened event horizon could be detected in the recently-discovered gravitational wave signals. The gravitational waves were produced by the merging of two black holes, producing a staggering amount of energy. This prediction was investigated by a team led by Niyayesh Afshordi of the Perimeter Institute and the University of Waterloo.
In December 2016, Afshordi's team released a paper with the evocative title of "Echoes from the Abyss", in which they announced that they had detected echoes of energy released between the inner layer of the event horizon and the outer layer of the event horizon. This would appear to indicate some structure at the event horizon, structure which was not predicted by conventional general relativity. The announcement was also featured in an article in Nature magazine which was aimed at the general readership.